Joan of Arc Biography Part 19

By Jules Michelet The Maid of Orleans

At the same time, the University
wrote to the pope, to the cardinals,
and to the king of England, landing
the bishop of Beauvais, and setting
forth, " that there seemed to it to have
been great gravity observed, and a
holy and just way of proceeding,
which ought to be most satisfactory
to all."

Armed with this response, some of
the assessors were for burning her
without further delay; which would
have been sufficient satisfaction for
the doctors, whose authority she re
jected, but not for the English who
required a retraction that should
defame king Charles. They
had recourse to a new admonition and
a new preacher, master Pierre Morice,
which was attended by no better
result. It was in vain that he dwelt
upon the authority of the University
of Paris, "which is the light of all
science." - " Though I should see
the executioner and the fire there,"
she exclaimed, " though I were in the
fire, I could only say what I have
said."

It was by this time the 23d of May,
the day after Pentecost; Winchester
could remain no longer at Rouen, and
it behooved to make an end of the
business. Therefore, it was resolved
to get up a great and terrible public
scene, which should either terrify the
recusant into submission, or, at the
least, blind the people. Loyseleur,
Chatillon, and Morice, were sent to
visit her the evening before, to prom
ise her that if she would submit and
quit her man's dress, she should be
delivered out of the hands of the
English, and placed in those of the
Church.

This fearful farce was enacted in
the cemetery of Saint-Ouen, behind
the beautifully severe monastic church
so called ; and which had by that day
assumed its present appearance. On
a scaffolding raised for the purpose
sat cardinal Winchester, the two
judges, and thirty-three assessors,
of whom many had their scribes
seated at their feet. On another scaf
fold, in the midst of huisaiera and
tortures, was Jeanne, in male attire,
and also notaries to take down
her confessions, and a preacher to
admonish her ; and, at its foot, among
the crowd, was remarked a strange
auditor, the executioner upon his cart.
ready to bear her as soon as she
should be adjudged his.

The preacher on this day, a famous doctor, Guillaume Erard, conceived
himself bound, on so fine an opportu
nity, to give the reins to his elo
quence ; and by his zeal he spoiled all.
"0, noble house of France," he ex
claimed, " which wast ever wont to be
protectress of the faith, how hast thou
been abused to ally thyself with a
heretic and schismatic. . . ." So far
the accused had listened patiently, but
when the preacher, turning towards
her, said to her, raising his finger, " It
is to thee, Jehanne, that I address my
self, and I tell thee that thy king is a
heretic and schismatic," the admirable
girl, forgetting all her danger, burst
forth with, " On my faith, sir, with all
due respect, I undertake to tell you,
and to swear, on pain of my life, that
he is the noblest Christian of all Chris
tians, the sincerest lover of the faith
and of the Church, and not what you
call him." - "Silence her," called out
Cauchon.

Thus all these efforts, pains, and
expense, had been thrown away. The
accused adhered to what she had said.
All they could obtain from her, was
her consent to submit herself to the
pope. Cauchon replied, " The pope is
too far off." He then began to read
the sentence of condemnation, which
had been drawn up beforehand, and
in which, among other things, it was
specified : " And furthermore, you
have obstinately persisted in refus
ing to submit yourself to the Holy
Father and to the Council," &c.
Meanwhile, Loyseleur and Erard con
jured her to have pity on herself; on
which the bishop, catching at a shadow
of hope, discontinued his reading.
This drove the English mad ; and one
of Winchester's secretaries told Cau
chon it was clear that he favored the
girl - a charge repeated by the cardi
nal's chaplain. " Thou art a liar," ex
claimed the bishop. " And thou," was
the retort, " art a traitor to the king."
These grave personages seemed to be
on the point of going to cuffs on the
judgment-seat.

Erard, not discouraged, threatened,
prayed. One while he said, " Jehanne,
we pity you so. . . . ! " and another,
" Abjure, or be burnt ! " All present
evinced an interest in the matter,
down even to a worthy catchpole
(hulssier), who, touched with com
passion, besought her to give way, as
suring her that she should be taken
out of the hands of the English and
placed in those of the Church. "Well,
then," she said, " I will sign." On this,
Cauchon, turning to the cardinal, re
spectfully inquired what was to be
done next. "Admit her to do pen
ance," replied the ecclesiastical prince.

Winchester's secretary drew out of
his sleeve a brief revocation, only six
lines long, (that which was given to
the world took up six pages,) and put
a pen in her hand, but she could not
sign. She smiled, and drew a circle :
the secretary took her hand, and
guided it to make a cross.

The sentence of grace was a most
severe one : - " Jehanne, we con
demn you, out of our grace and mod
eration, to pass the rest of your days
in prison, on the bread of grief and
water of anguish, and so to mourn
your sins."

She was admitted by the ecclesiastical judge to do penance, no doubt,
nowhere save in the prisons of the
church. The ecclesiastic prison,
however severe it might be, would
at the least withdraw her from the
hands of the English, place her under
shelter from their insults, save her
honor. Judge of her surprise and
despair when the bishop coldly said :
" Take her back whence you brought
her."

Nothing was done ; deceived on this
wise, she could not fail to retract her
retractation. Yet, though she had
abided by it, the English, in their fury,
would not have allowed her so to
escape. They had come to Saint
Ouen in the hope of at last burning
the sorceress, had waited panting and
breathless to this end ; and now they
were to be dismissed on this fashion,
paid with a slip of parchment, a signa
ture, a grimace. ... At the very
moment the bishop discontinued read
ing the sentence of condemnation,
stones flew upon the scaffolding with
out any respect for the cardinal. . . .
The doctors were in peril of their
lives as they came down from their
seats into the public place ; swords
were in all directions pointed at their
throats. The more moderate among
the English confined themselves to
insulting language : " Priests, you
are not earning the king's money."
The doctors, making off in all haste,
said tremblingly: "Do not be un
easy, we shall soon have her again."

And it was not the soldiery alone,
not the English mobj always so fero
cious, which displayed this thirst for
blood. The better born, the great, the
lords, were no less sanguinary. The
king's man, his tutor, the earl of War
wick, said like the soldiers: "The
king's business goes on badly: the girl
will not be burnt."

According to English notions, War
wick was the mirror of worthiness,
the accomplished Englishman, the per
fect genUeman. Brave and devout,
like his master, Henry V., and the
zealous champion of the established
Church, he had performed the pilgrim
age to the Holy Land, as well as many
other chivalrous expeditions, not fail
ing to give tournays on his route:
one of the most brilliant and cele
brated of which took place at the gates
of Calais, where he defied the whole
chivalry of France. This tournay was
long remembered; and the bravery
and magnificence of this Warwick
served not a little to prepare the way
for the famous Warwick, the Amgr.
maker.

With all his chivalry, Warwick was
not the less savagely eager for the
death of a woman, and one who was,
too, a prisoner of war. The best, and
the most looked-up-to of the English,
was as little deterred by honorable
scruples as the rest of his countrymen from putting to death on the
award of priests, and by fire, her who
had humbled them by the sword.